Jeff Sessions Denies Lying to Congress on Contacts With Russia

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions denied that he lied when he testified about Russian contacts in October. He also said he was aware of African-American groups that have transformed themselves into “violent activists.”Published OnNov. 14, 2017CreditImage by Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday denied, again, lying to Congress about the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. He said he had forgotten about a campaign round-table in which an aide played up his Russian connections and suggested arranging a meeting for Donald J. Trump in Moscow.

But even as Mr. Sessions remained hazy on the details, he was adamant that he had swiftly rejected the aide’s suggestion.

“I have always told the truth,” Mr. Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee, adding that he stood by his previous testimony because “I had no recollection of this meeting until I saw these news reports.”

Mr. Sessions, a former senator and an architect of President Trump’s policies on trade and immigration, was supposed to be an influential force in the administration. Instead, he has twice amended his sworn testimony, creating a distraction for the White House and renewing questions about whether the Trump administration is concealing its connections with Russia.

A special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, is investigating whether anyone close to Mr. Trump worked with Russian operatives to influence last year’s presidential election.

In October, Mr. Sessions testified that he knew of nobody in the Trump campaign who had contacts with Russians. “And I don’t believe it happened,” he said then.

Court documents in the special counsel investigation have since shown that Mr. Sessions led a round-table last year in which a campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, discussed his Russian ties and suggested setting up a meeting between Mr. Trump and Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president.

Mr. Sessions said he now remembered the round-table discussion and that Mr. Papadopoulos attended, but, he said, “I have no clear recollection of the details of what he said.” Mr. Sessions seemed more certain about his own response to Mr. Papadopoulos: “I pushed back against his suggestion.”

He offered an impassioned defense of his previous testimony, saying he did not intentionally mislead anyone about fleeting and forgotten meetings. “You’re accusing me of lying about that?” he said. “I would say that’s not fair, colleagues.”

“I don’t think it is right to accuse me of doing something wrong,” he added.

Democrats criticized Mr. Sessions for what they said was repeatedly making inaccurate statements. During his confirmation hearings in January, Mr. Sessions told the Senate that he had not had any contact with Russians. He has since acknowledged meeting privately with the Russian ambassador. Mr. Sessions said again on Tuesday that he believed the question was asked in the context of Russian election interference, and he answered in that spirit.

Congressional Republicans, who have consistently been his most important allies, came to Mr. Sessions’s defense. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” Representative Ron DeSantis of Florida said. When it appeared earlier this year that Mr. Trump was about to fire him, his former Senate colleagues formed a human shield, saying they would not confirm a replacement.

Mr. Sessions has fallen from favor at the White House, where Mr. Trump blames him for Mr. Mueller’s investigation. The president believes that if Mr. Sessions had not recused himself from the Russia investigation, there would have been no need for a special counsel. White House officials believe Mr. Sessions’s poor performances before Congress have only made things worse.

Even as Mr. Trump has acknowledged that he is not supposed to involve himself in Justice Department decision making, he has called for prosecutors to investigate Hillary Clinton and members of the Obama administration.

Mr. Sessions appeared to have received the message. In a Nov. 13 letter sent to the House Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department said it would examine allegations that donations to the Clinton Foundation influenced a 2010 decision to allow a Russian agency to buy a Canadian company that owned access to uranium in the United States.

“I have not been improperly influenced and would not be improperly influenced. The president speaks his mind. He’s a bold and direct about what he says,” Mr. Sessions said. “We do our duty every day based on the law and the facts.”

The letter regarding the uranium deal gave a boost to conservatives who have been calling for a special counsel to investigate Mrs. Clinton. But Mr. Sessions did not entirely endorse the idea. When Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, said it looked like there was already enough evidence to investigate, Mr. Sessions responded: “‘Looks like’ is not enough basis to appoint a special counsel.”

Several Republicans also urged Mr. Sessions to crack down on leaks of classified information by government employees, arguing that they are a scandal unto themselves. Mr. Sessions said the Justice Department had increased the number of leak investigations to 27, up from nine, since he became attorney general.

“We intend to get to the bottom of these leaks. I think it has reached epidemic proportions,” Mr. Sessions said. “It cannot be allowed to continue and we will do our best effort to ensure it does not continue.”

Democrats repeatedly questioned Mr. Sessions’s independence and honesty. “I don’t want to hear in a few days or a few weeks that your answers, Mr. Attorney General, have changed,” said Representative Luis V. Gutiérrez of Illinois.

Mr. Sessions testified a day after the Atlantic magazine revealed that Donald J. Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, had exchanged private messages on Twitter with WikiLeaks during the campaign. WikiLeaks published a trove of embarrassing Democratic emails that had been stolen by Russian hackers.

The Twitter conversations undercut statements made last year by Vice President Mike Pence, who was Indiana’s governor at the time. Asked during an appearance on the “Fox & Friends” program on Fox News whether the Trump campaign was “in cahoots with WikiLeaks,” Mr. Pence categorically denied it.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “I think all of us have, you know, had concerns about WikiLeaks over the years.”

A spokeswoman for Mr. Pence circulated a press statement saying he had not been aware of anyone associated with the campaign being in contact with WikiLeaks until the reports about it surfaced on Monday.

Mr. Sessions also waded into the controversy over the man running for his former Senate seat from Alabama. The candidate, Roy S. Moore, faces accusations from five women that he made sexual or romantic advances on them when they were teenagers.

“I have no reason to doubt these young women,” Mr. Sessions said. Mr. Moore has denied the allegations.

His remarks are more bad news for Mr. Moore, who has all but been abandoned by Washington Republicans. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has declared: “I believe the women.” And the leader of the Senate Republican campaign arm, Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, said that the Senate should vote to expel Mr. Moore if he wins.

Correction:

An earlier version of this article misstated the nationality for a uranium company that was bought by a Russian agency. The company was based in Canada, not the United States.

Charlie Savage contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Sessions Denies Lying Over Ties To Russia in ‘16. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe